Back in the 1960s and ’70s, no one had yet invented the acronym “PTSD” for post-traumatic stress disorder. When veterans of the Vietnam War returned, they were mostly assumed to be healthy soldiers, until doctors began to recognize what they called “post-Vietnam syndrome.”
The lifethreatening experiences of war have always left their mark. We called it “soldier’s heart” after the Civil War, “combat fatigue” or “shell shock” after World War I and “battle fatigue” following World War II.
Most of us learned about PTSD from the movies. Films like “Born on the Fourth of July” and “The Deer Hunter” featured Vietnam veterans suffering from PTSDrelated issues.
But a large percentage of our veterans have learned about this complicated emotional disorder by living it.
Raymond “Randy” Olson of Shelton is one of those people. He went to jump school in 1966 and, after being served a TV dinner on Thanksgiving Day, was shipped to Vietnam as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne.
After one year of combat that included the Tet Offensive of 1968, jumping out of C141 aircraft and being subjected to Agent Orange, Olson returned home to derision and insults for having served his country.
He also came home with Type 2 diabetes, despite no history of the disease in his family, severe hearing loss that required the use of aids, noise sensitivity, weight loss and horrific nightmares and flashbacks that continue today. It took Olson almost 20 years to connect his Vietnam experience to his physical and emotional troubles.
Why so long?
He says the public and the medical community didn’t acknowledge PTSD as a legitimate disorder until some Vietnam vets forced the issue.
According to a congressionally mandated study in 1983, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study found that about 30 percent of men and 27 percent of women suffered from some form of PTSD after serving in Vietnam.
A similar study after the Persian Gulf War found somewhere between 9 percent and 24 percent of vets reported PTSD issues.
There are no comparative results from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because they are ongoing. But the high rate of suicides among military personnel should tell us something. National psychiatric groups are predicting that at least 17 percent of Iraq soldiers will develop PTSD, that enlisted soldiers are twice as likely as officers to report PTSD symptoms and that women suffer more severe and debilitating forms of PTSD.
Olson reports getting good medical care from the Veteran’s Administration since entering the system. But his request for a benefits payment adjustment to reflect the full amount of time he has suffered is into its second year and adding to a paperwork file already 3 inches to 4 inches tall.
He’s concerned that many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will find the bureaucracy of the VA overwhelming and insurmountable. They will simply give up, he fears, and they will end up homeless and sleeping on our streets.
As we remember the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, today, we should put returning veterans into our thoughts, and actions. They are a walking testament to the horrors of these wars that began 10 years ago.
ET CETERA
The Olympia Choral Society takes the stage at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts at 3 p.m. today for a special Sept. 11 performance. It is a free concert featuring Mozart’s “Requiem” in remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy. ... Ever wondered what it’s like to participate in an action of civil disobedience? The Washington State Patrol’s Rapid Deployment Force is seeking volunteer protesters for a training exercise at the WSP Academy near Shelton starting at 8 a.m. on Sept. 27 and 28. The contact is Clifford.pratt@wsp.wa.gov . ... The next and final “Make Olympia” street market is scheduled for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday. It is held in downtown Olympia on Washington Street, between Fourth and State avenues. A Seattle Downtown Association executive will speak at the annual meeting of the Olympia Parking Business Improvement Area at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Olympia City Hall council chambers.
George Le Masurier, publisher of The Olympian, can be reached at 360-357 0206 or glemasurier@theolympian.
